‘Tiger’ Ageing Like a Fine Wine

[Wandering Eyes]

To be told that a horse that won the G1 Triumph Hurdle five years ago is only reaching his peak now may seem a little preposterous but who more qualified to make a statement like that than one Gerry O’Brien, the breeder of the horse in question, Tiger Roll (Ire) (Authorized {Ire})?

And who could argue, when the big-hearted but neatly made gelding blew away his rivals in the G2 Boyne Hurdle three weeks ago, a race Gordon Elliott was purely using to give the Michael O’Leary-owned star a pipe-opener ahead of potential repeat wins in both this week’s Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase at the Cheltenham Festival and the G3 Randox Health Grand National next month?

“It’s the family, they just tend to get better with age,” insists O’Brien. “If you take Tiger Roll’s half-brother Azeemah (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), he wasn’t a spectacular 2-year-old, but he was better at three, then better again at four when he won the [G2] Lonsdale Cup and was second in the [G1] Irish St Leger and he continued to show high class form at five and six. They give everything and the mother was the same.”

The mother O’Brien is referring to is 19-year-old Swiss Roll (Ire) (Entrepreneur {GB}), the only broodmare O’Brien owns. If you are going to have only one mare, then what a mare to own. O’Brien bred Swiss Roll himself out of On Air (Fr) (Chief Singer {GB}), a mare he bought in the early 1990s and one who would turn out to be a great producer in her own right. Swiss Roll got On Air off to a good start, winning twice for Tommy Stack, and she garnered a bit of valuable black-type when second in the Listed Vintage Crop S. at Navan in 2005.

“She was good but she was a poor grubber and was fragile but she had a big heart. She loved a stiff track, she won in Galway and relished that hill,” recalls O’Brien.

Incidentally, O’Brien is a retired vet and worked at Coolmore for years, which is how the initial mating with Entrepreneur came about. “It was Tom Lynch in Coolmore who advised me to use Entrepreneur in the first place,” he says. “I used to be in the car with Tom going around the farms and I asked him who the best-looking stallion was in Coolmore and his answer was Entrepreneur. He ended up not really making it as a stallion but it certainly worked out well with On Air.”

A second date with Entrepreneur saw On Air produce a colt called Berenson (Ire) who O’Brien also raced. His career on the track was short-lived but he certainly made an impact. After winning a maiden at The Curragh first time out in 2004, he finished second in the G1 National S. before being purchased by Sheikh Mohammed. Unfortunately he never raced again.

“It was a pity he went wrong as he could have been something else at three,” O’Brien reflects.

That National S. began a series of links and threads that have continued into the next generation of the family. The winner of that race was none other than Dubawi (Ire), who was then chosen by O’Brien as an early mate for Swiss Roll. That pairing produced Azeemah (Ire), who was bought by John Ferguson as a foal on behalf of Godolphin.

“The late Mick Buckley offered me a foal share in Dubawi and I guess having seen him beat Berenson at The Curragh I knew he was a high-class horse. I think it was his third season at stud so he was good value at the time and easier to get into than now. I also thought he would suit Swiss Roll physically. She is lanky and tall and he is burly so I thought it would be a good match.”

Swiss Roll was sent back to Darley the following year to visit Derby winner Authorized (Ire) and the result was Tiger Roll, who was also bought by John Ferguson as a foal for 70,000gns. Time went by and there was no sign of Tiger Roll hitting the track, and when he was bought by Nigel Hawke for £10,000 out of the Darley horses-in-training draft at Goffs UK three years later, O’Brien’s optimism for the horse’s prospects was certainly tested.

“He was bred stamina on stamina so he was never going to be sharp and precocious but still it wasn’t encouraging that he didn’t make the track for Godolphin given he wasn’t a big weak horse,” he says.

Tiger Roll soon found his vocation and having easily won a juvenile hurdle on debut he was snapped up by current connections for £80,000 a month later. His subsequent exploits, which include three victories at the Cheltenham Festival over hurdles, fences and the cross-country course, have been well documented but there came a stage in Tiger Roll’s life when it looked like his career would go the way of many high-class, Flat-bred 4-year-old hurdlers who fizzle away into obscurity. But then he is trained by a gifted man in Gordon Elliott and a switch to fences has been the unlikely making of the horse.

“Gordon has done an unbelievable job with him,” O’Brien says. “The jockeys, too, that have ridden him have been fantastic. I was amazed with Davy Russell in the Grand National last year. They showed it on ITV in slow motion when Tiger made a bad mistake and Davy lost an iron. He just casually reached down and put it back on his foot as a big fence loomed up. He didn’t panic and was so cool.”

Apart from Tiger Roll, 2019 could be an interesting year for two of Swiss Roll’s other progeny. Her 4-year-old son of Teofilo (Ire) called Austrian School (Ire), is in training with Mark Johnston and he is beginning to creep towards ‘Cup’ standard on the Flat and given the family’s propensity for improving with age that path looks a distinct possibility. He won on debut as a 2-year-old and finished up last season rated 102.

“He looks a right horse,” says O’Brien. “The Aussies have tried to buy him but his owner Jim Walker has resisted so far. Jim is an economist from Glasgow who is a professor of economics in Hong Kong and I asked him how he came up with the name and apparently the Austrian School of Economics was the gold standard for the profession in the 1930s and ’40s. This horse is a totally different model to Tiger Roll. He is a big imposing horse and was well over 16 hands as a yearling. No-one wanted him at the sales though. Jim Walker picked him out on pedigree and when Mark Johnston phoned him to say he’d bought him for 20 grand he couldn’t believe it and asked was there something wrong with him.”

He continues, “It’s worth having a look at the rerun of Austrian School’s debut. He was so green, he missed the break, went around last, swung wide turning in and it was only in the last furlong that the penny dropped and he clicked into gear to win going away. He’s never been out of the money and I’m hoping he will come into his own this year.”

O’Brien also has an unraced 3-year-old daughter of Teofilo (Ire) to look forward to following. She was bought by a former Coolmore colleague Eamon Phelan for €28,000 as a yearling and that looks to have been a fairly shrewd move given her lineage. “I’m delighted Eamon bought her, she is probably the best-looking horse the mare has produced. Eamon has given her plenty of time to mature and develop and she is in training with Joe Murphy in Fethard and I believe she is pleasing them.”

O’Brien departed from his usual formula and sent the mare to speed influence Exceed And Excel (Aus) two years ago and has a yearling filly by him to offer at the sales later this year, but he reverted to the middle-distance approach that has served him and Swiss Roll so well so far and she is due again to Teofilo in April.

An engaging character to talk to, O’Brien puts a lot of faith in nature when it comes to rearing his Thoroughbreds. Foals are left with their mother for far longer than is the norm in the industry with Swiss Roll and her yearling filly having been separated only recently.

“I don’t like interfering too much. They get well fed with nuts and hay and I leave them together so they will have company. They’ve only just gone their separate ways as I send the mare to a friend for foaling and the filly has gone for some education as well,” he explains. “Breeding is really a lottery though and so many factors are involved. You could have a lovely horse to bring to the sales and he could cut himself in the horsebox on the way and the whole thing is scuppered. Similarly, it’s important that your horses go to good yards as that can be the difference between a mare making a name for herself and not. I’ve been lucky to have had some great days cheering on the likes of Tiger Roll but at the same time it’s certainly not a game for small boys, orphans or widows is it?”

O’Brien won’t be at Prestbury Park this week to watch Tiger Roll attempt to land back-to-back Cross Country Chases under Keith Donoghue but he is planning a trip to Merseyside next month.

“I’ve never been [to Aintree] before but the sponsors have kindly invited me. They sent me a nice trophy for his win last year which was a nice gesture. I take nothing for granted though and while he is favourite for his race this week anything can happen in jump racing. I just want him to come back safe each time and eventually enjoy a nice retirement back at Gigginstown House Stud. That’s the most important thing of all.”

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